Good thing I've stocked up a lifetime's worth of games from the Atari 2600 up to nes, genesis,, gamecube, ps1, p2, wii, and all my mame emulations. So I'm waiting to go all Burgess Meredith when the apocalypse happens, time enough at last.

INeedAName:Pocket Ninja: That will be the day I go from very occasionally playing video games to not playing them at all.

Something along these lines. I like video games because I can play them when I want, how I want. Apparently that's no longer a thing.

It's not just video games, though. Apparently, every time you participate in anything, there's an immediate request to share it.

Take MapMyRun, for example. You go for a run, and you can share it with your friends. And no, I'm really, really, really not in need of that much validation that my friends need to know how much time I spent running this week. I don't need cheerleaders or to gloat or anything like that. I just want something to keep track of my progress.

In fact, the only reason I'd use a "sharing" option is as a live-tracker so that my husband can figure out where I am if he needs me. In which case, sharing is good.

But every time you accomplish something? Blech. I once got to some high level of Tetris with nobody to see it, life moved on even though nobody knows. Kids these days.

The last multiplayer game I even remotely enjoyed was Counterstrike, and finding a group that actually wanted to play realistically--strategic troop movements, individual goals, covering fire, coordinated strikes, etc.-- was already becoming quite an ordeal. The only guys who were fun to play with were actual soldiers.

I still have yet to desire any significant amount of MP gameplay in any of the CoD games.

There isn't really any room for AAA quality single player games anymore. Or at least single player games expecting a AAA size price tag. Only the most hyped game is going to get people to shell out $60 for something that was just released when they can wait a couple months for the same game and get it at half price or they're just going to be a shmuck and pirate it until it's down to a more reasonable price. Attach an online component so they can't and you get whiners complaining about that. You can't win.

Fano:Good thing I've stocked up a lifetime's worth of games from the Atari 2600 up to nes, genesis,, gamecube, ps1, p2, wii, and all my mame emulations. So I'm waiting to go all Burgess Meredith when the apocalypse happens, time enough at last.

Aar1012:Fano: Good thing I've stocked up a lifetime's worth of games from the Atari 2600 up to nes, genesis,, gamecube, ps1, p2, wii, and all my mame emulations. So I'm waiting to go all Burgess Meredith when the apocalypse happens, time enough at last.

It's why I'm glad that I started collecting retro consoles

One of my proudest moments was when my dusted off the old SNES last month, and plugged in Final Fantasy 3, and saw the kids get excited over the intro music and say "OOOOOOOOoooo. Can I play it?"

Then they got frustrated they didn't have a quest marker telling them where to go (-_-) .

meat0918:Aar1012: Fano: Good thing I've stocked up a lifetime's worth of games from the Atari 2600 up to nes, genesis,, gamecube, ps1, p2, wii, and all my mame emulations. So I'm waiting to go all Burgess Meredith when the apocalypse happens, time enough at last.

It's why I'm glad that I started collecting retro consoles

One of my proudest moments was when my dusted off the old SNES last month, and plugged in Final Fantasy 3, and saw the kids get excited over the intro music and say "OOOOOOOOoooo. Can I play it?"

Then they got frustrated they didn't have a quest marker telling them where to go (-_-) .

They just might not be "explorers". That is one thing I didn't like about WoW when I was playing in the closed beta at the time. "Go visit this NPC in town x." Okay, I go to town x....now where in the world is x NPC?! Wasted a good 5-10 minutes trying to find him/her....frustrating.

Plant Rights Activist:There isn't really any room for AAA quality single player games anymore. Or at least single player games expecting a AAA size price tag. Only the most hyped game is going to get people to shell out $60 for something that was just released when they can wait a couple months for the same game and get it at half price or they're just going to be a shmuck and pirate it until it's down to a more reasonable price. Attach an online component so they can't and you get whiners complaining about that. You can't win.

Eat a dick, future video game programmers that require the connection.

If I want to take my system of choice and go to a remote place and play the latest Assassin's Creed or Metal Gear and can't because it requires an online checkin/whathaveyou, then I'm going to shiat inside the system, seal it air tight, and mail it back to you.

BumpInTheNight:Plant Rights Activist: There isn't really any room for AAA quality single player games anymore. Or at least single player games expecting a AAA size price tag. Only the most hyped game is going to get people to shell out $60 for something that was just released when they can wait a couple months for the same game and get it at half price or they're just going to be a shmuck and pirate it until it's down to a more reasonable price. Attach an online component so they can't and you get whiners complaining about that. You can't win.

Let's check in on Skyrim...*thousands of active modders and players*

Now let's check in on Elder Scrolls online...*crickets*

Yep.

/this is the exception to your rule

I play it now and then for a few hours. I like the skill system where I do not seem to be locked into one craft.

This article made me think of playing Rome 2 and then looking at all these unlocks I get on steam. I am wondering why they think I would even care if I unlock something that doesn't provide me with any benefit.

It weirds me out how normal it is now for a bevy of social media links to hover around the videos on streaming sites. One false click and your friends will know what you're masturbating to in real time.

If I want to take my system of choice and go to a remote place and play the latest Assassin's Creed or Metal Gear and can't because it requires an online checkin/whathaveyou, then I'm going to shiat inside the system, seal it air tight, and mail it back to you.

Eat a dick.

Usually the programmer is just a paid tool of the publisher/developer. And really, it is some suit at the publisher who has an MBA and nver picked up a controller in his life who makes these counterproductive decisions.

The only thing which has confused me in all of this: Unless you are somehow really, really confident that you're really, really good at the craft of games, and that you're going to continue getting better at it to the point where every game you make renders the old one obsolete, who the fark would willingly sign up for a project knowing that their toil and commitment to the pursuit of their art will be absolutely irrelevant the second that the publisher shuts down the servers? And let's be clear about this: This isn't just corporate whores being corporate whores. You have countless small-scale game developers doing the exact same thing with their games for the computers and phones. (Any person who gets a project funded through Kickstarter and follows through with DLC, or episodic content, or "online only" should be buried into the ground right alongside a hot bed of coals.)

tgambitg:palelizard: What if I don't want people to know I came in second in Leisure Suit Larry?

I thought coming second in Leisure Suit Larry was a good thing?

I had an ISWYDT all ready to go, but you have beaten me to it. :)

Perhaps the whole socializing thing that the industry is pushing wouldn't be so vulgar if it really was about increasing interactivity between players and not a naked attempt to use players as free advertising drones.

thamike:The last multiplayer game I even remotely enjoyed was Counterstrike, and finding a group that actually wanted to play realistically--strategic troop movements, individual goals, covering fire, coordinated strikes, etc.-- was already becoming quite an ordeal. The only guys who were fun to play with were actual soldiers.

I still have yet to desire any significant amount of MP gameplay in any of the CoD games.

Then again, I'm still a keyboard/mouse gamer. I don't enjoy consoles.

LV42 used to be a good tactical CS server, but faded out. I don't think there's any real tactical gaming going on these days.

Spent many nights drinking and lying in wait to ambush some CT group. MISS that!

meat0918:Aar1012: Fano: Good thing I've stocked up a lifetime's worth of games from the Atari 2600 up to nes, genesis,, gamecube, ps1, p2, wii, and all my mame emulations. So I'm waiting to go all Burgess Meredith when the apocalypse happens, time enough at last.

It's why I'm glad that I started collecting retro consoles

One of my proudest moments was when my dusted off the old SNES last month, and plugged in Final Fantasy 3, and saw the kids get excited over the intro music and say "OOOOOOOOoooo. Can I play it?"

Then they got frustrated they didn't have a quest marker telling them where to go (-_-) .

My brother has ours and has dusted it off now and then. I found a bunch of my old PC games and have been having fun with playing Roller Coaster Tycoon with the Loopy Landscape and Corkscrew Follies expansion.

PirateKing:And that's when the AAA developers will mostly fail, and Indie developers will come into their own.

After all, Minecraft is the number one best selling video game of all time already.

Minecraft is interesting as it proves the importance of having the option for online play, but also proves that you must make the game somewhat entertaining for single players too. It's like creating a game that can only be enjoyed one way isn't the best way to go about designing things.

I understand the author's complaint, but I think Destiny is a bad choice to illustrate it. As a rule I avoid online gaming because of the smacktards that generally populate them, but I played Destiny beta and never felt like others were intruding or even affecting my experience. As a matter of fact, I generally enjoyed seeing (while not hearing) other players in the game world. It made me feel like I was sharing an experience with them.